The story here could focus on the news that Guillermo del Toro is no longer directing CBS Films’ adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, the book series that traumatized a generation of kids (including yours truly). However, the big news here is that they’ve found one hell of a replacement for the Shape of Water director in Norwegian director André Øvredal, one of the most exciting directors working in genre cinema at the moment. The short version: this could be really, really cool.

You may love a lot of movies and books and games, but you probably only need one hand to count the pieces of art and culture that slammed into your brain with the force of a rogue asteroid and forever shaped your tastes. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and its sequels, written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell, are a key component in my personal make-up. These collections of creepy folklore, urban legends, and unsettling horror tales remain untouchable today – rarely has “kid-friendly” horror literature refused to pull its punches to this extent. These stories still bounce around inside my head every day, their macabre illustrations permanently branded upon my brain.

So yeah, I’m pretty excited about a twisted genius like director Guillermo del Toro taking this series to the big screen, and the fact that two new writers have been hired to work on the screenplay suggests that this project may actually come to fruition.

Pacific Rim 2 may be off the table, or it may just be waiting for China to make it happen, but either way Guillermo del Toro will have plenty to keep him busy in the near future. He’s just signed on to develop and possibly direct Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, based on the classic children’s books written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated very, very creepily by Stephen Gammell. Read More »

For a couple years, an adaptation of the children’s horror book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has been in the works. Back in 2013, Saw scribes Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstonwere set to write the screenplay, but last year John August was brought on board to start the project over from square one. Since then, we haven’t heard anything about the project.

But while we wait for that project to move forward, we’ll be able to dive into Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark in a different way. Filmmaker Cody Meirick has been working on a documentary, aptly called Scary Stories, that will dive into the history and legacy of the book and the impact it had on the generation who fell in love with the terrifying gothic tales and illustrations within, haunting their dreams so much that later versions of the original book were made significantly less scary.

You can get a taste of what the doc will offer in the Scary Stories trailer after the jump! Read More »

CBS Films has been trying to crack the popular children’s book series, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, for a while. Originally, they brought on Saw writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton to pen a script. Evidently their take wasn’t what the company wanted. CBS has now gone back to square one and hired a writer who knows a little something about blending the tones that made these books so popular. John August, writer of Go, Charlie’s Angels, Big Fish, Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie, has been hired to write a new script for the scary series of short stories. Read more about the Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark movie below.

If you grew up in the ’80s or ’90s, you probably spent at least a little bit of your childhood being scared silly by Alvin Schwartz‘s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Now a whole new generation of kids will get the opportunity to be spooked by those stories, thanks to CBS Films.

The studio has just picked up the rights to the three-part horror anthology series, with scribes Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunston set to write the screenplay. The pair are best known for their work on the Saw series, so they certainly know their way around creepy material. Hit the jump for plot details and more.